The mobile communication network such as the cellular telephone is capable of detecting the current location of a mobile communication terminal. In recent years, various systems have been proposed for providing information service utilizing the location information acquired by the mobile communication network of the type described above. One of the services of this type using a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System) is the location information service for providing the current location search service for measuring and reporting the current location of the object of location measurement such as an aged person or an infant, the service for distributing the contents related to the current location, or the service related to the current location of a user or a person other than the user making up an object of measurement.
For carrying out the location information service, the current location of the person of which the location is to be measured is required to be measured. Generally, this location measurement is carried out by causing the person of which the location is to be measured to hold a mobile communication terminal such as a portable terminal, a PHS, a PDA or the like having the communication/location measuring function, and causing a location measuring device to transmit signals to and from the mobile communication terminal for location measurement. The method of location measurement varies depending on the type of the mobile communication terminal held by the person of which the location is to be measured. For this reason, the conventional service providers for providing the location information service have provided the location information service only for the persons holding a mobile communication terminal of a specific type. Also, in providing the location information service to a great number of persons holding various mobile communication terminals, the service provider is required to prepare the location measuring means of various types to meet the requirements of the mobile communication terminals, thereby posing the problem of an increased cost of providing the location information service. Also, depending on the contents of the location information service, the requested location information may be required to be expressed in different forms. For example, a given service is desirably provided as the location information expressed by the latitude and longitude while another service is preferably provided by the location information expressed by an address (character string). In such a case, the location information service provider is required to prepare means for generating the location information in the form of expression suitable for each service provided. Under the circumstances, this imposes a large burden on the service provider for providing the location information service. Also, the user wanting to receive the service is required to take the trouble of specifying the method of location measurement and the method of accessing the contents in accordance with the method employed by the service provider.